Shinobi no Mono
"A man, who knows everything of ninjutsu and takes ownership of what he has learned, while at the same time always keeping it in mind and conducting himself independently, is called shinobi" - Natori Masatake (Shoninki) Ninja, or shinobi (忍者), were professional covert operatives who flourished in the feudal age of Japan. As spies they entered into enemy territories in secret and escaped with their enemies' top secrets. There were many ways they went about their activities. Primarily, the methods centered about not being seen by anyone. A ninja would creep into a residence where lords of his enemies lived and eavesdropped on confidential conversations of important people. In this case, the ninja's targets paid close attention not to leak important information. They tried to keep when and where meetings took place a secret, and even in real gatherings, they took care never to speak too loud. However, even in such cases, a ninja had techniques to steal top secrets from their foes. A ninja has perfect command of eccentric and mysterious abilities. These talents are called " ninjutsu (忍術) " in Japanese. The characteristics of ninjutsu are close to conjuring tricks. A ninja has the ability to trick his enemies by using human psychology to make it seem like supernatural phenomena. In Japanese Kanji (漢字), the characters of ninja are written as so "忍者" . "忍" means "endure" and "者" is "man". In short, ninja means someone who can endure hardships. Moreover, the kanji "忍" can be separated into these two kanjis. They are "刃" and "心". The meaning of 刃 is "edge", similarly 心 is "heart". There is an edge on one's heart. It indicates the abandonment of one's individual emotions . There have been many names given to ninjas. "Shinobi (忍 )"," Ninsya (ニンシャ) ", " Onmitsu (隠密) ", " Ninjutsusya (忍術屋) ", " Monomi (物見) " to name but a few. It was only about 50 years ago that the nomenclature of ninja was unified into the world "ninja". Until then, the name ninja had changed depending on the area and era. After the Pacific War, some famous novelists called them ninja in their written works. Since then, the classic name for a Japanese spy has been ninja. History "It has been many years since the basis for the arts of the shinobi soldiers was brought to these shores from abroad. The arts of the shinobi soldier are a rudder in the planning if a strategy and the key to success for all tacticians." - Katsuda Kakyusai Yoshin Birth of the Ninja In 221 BC, the first Chinese Emperor Shi-Huangdi (始皇帝) unified all of China. According to a certain historical legend, he dispatched a man named Xu Fu (徐福) to Japan in order to obtain the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu brought back his wizardry, and it became the base of ninjutsu (忍術). Pre-Warring States Period In the 7th century and throughout the times that followed, a certain document says that a great politician called Shotoku-Taishi (聖徳太子) used a man named Otomono Hosohito (大伴 細人) as a spy. Otomono Hosohito is thought to be the ancestor of ninjas. In the classical ages of Japan, there existed two types of tribes. One were the aborigines of Japan called Jomon-jin (縄文人) and the other were the groups who passed on rice farming from Eurasia, called Yayoi-jin (弥生人). Around the 8th century, Yayoi-jins took the leadership of the Japanese governance. At that time, the Jomon-jin were banished into the mountains with their beliefs and techniques. Remarkably, the settlements in which the ninjas lived in are the sacred places of these Japanese ancient peoples. Until the Warring States period in Japan, almost all territories had been private lands called Shoen (荘園) ruled by priests, aristocracy and bureaucrats. Great battles among the large groups of Samurais (侍) often took place thus, around the 14th century, ninjas were hired by samurais as spies. Ninja Golden Age "Many of their traditions were passed on by word of mouth, so we don't know what was altered in the process." - Jinichi Kawakami During the Waring States Period, each Daimyo possessed areas in Japan and they waged wars with each other for the unification of the whole country. This period continued throughout the 15th and 16th century and this was the golden-age of the ninja. Some ninjas took part in the battles as guerrilla mercenaries which specialized with surprise raids. In this age of ninjistu, it is said that combat may have been more important than espionage. Daimyos spent all their time on war so they permanently desired information on their enemies therefore, many ninjas behaved as spies. At that time, two historical ninjas appeared. Hattori Hanzo (服部 半蔵) and Fuma Kotaro (風魔 小太郎). They attained great results for their lords. Especially Hanzo, as he served Tokugawa, Ieyasu (徳川 家康), and was given a large home in a heart of Edo, present-day Tokyo, by Ieyasu as a reward. The name of his residence still remains today, it’s called Hanzomon (半蔵門). We can find no less than 70 factions of ninjutsu at the peak period mentioned in documents. Among them are the famous Iga (伊賀) and Koka (甲賀) clans, but at the end of the Warring States period, they became enemies of a great Daimyo and a Shogun (将軍). The result of this was a fierce battle that sent ninjas fading away from Japanese history. Edo Period Tokugawa Ieyasu unified all of Japan and started the Edo-Shogunate (江戸幕府) in 1603. The Warring States period ended and the peaceful Edo-age has begun. The importance of ninjas in Japan diminished. Some ninjas who worked under Ieyasu got important posts as guards around Edo-castle (江戸城). As Ieyasu needed to look out for all of the Daimyos in Japan, other ninjas were dispatched to each Daimyo’s territory and yet, almost all ninjas ceased to exist. They all had to survive by using their special talents and skills. Some became gunpowder experts, some got jobs as pharmacists, gardeners, street performers, policemen or lower level Samurais (下級武士) while others became priests. The most talented ninja became Kogi-Onmitsu. Skills "I was also required to endure heat and cold as well as pain and hunger. The training was all tough and painful. It wasn't fun but I didn't think much why I was doing it. Training was made to be part of my life." - Jinichi Kawakami The need to find out valuable information like the dates and locations of important meetings meant that by any means ninjas did what they had to do. He would slip into the castle of his target and stay on an attic or under the floor for many days and eavesdrops on many people. From the information he got, he would judge about the details of the important meeting. In order to carry out such missions, a ninja needed to have a lot of skills. He had to spend many weeks with only little food and drink, but they were able to do this because ninjas possessed the ability to survive long periods of time without eating and drinking from their training. A Ninja had to be enormously nimble. It was a failure if a ninja made a sound and was noticed by his enemy, therefore, to not have this happen, ninjas could move with perfect silent steps. To do this, a ninja needed to be slight because needless to say, if he was fat he couldn’t enter a narrow space, and if he was lurking on an attic, he might smash the ceiling board under his foot. Accordingly, ninjas would typically weigh under 65kg because it corresponded to almost the same weight of a straw rice‐bag. It was considered that if a ninja was heavier than a rice bag, it would be hard for a ninja to accomplish his activities. Ninjas usually had to lift straw rice‐bags using their thumbs and index fingers as part of their training. The weight of a straw rice‐bag was considered to be that of a ninja. Thanks to the conditioning, the fingers of a ninja had great strength. He needed to climb the stone walls of castles with his bare hands. He couldn’t always bring tools with him to sneak into a mansion. Therefore, a ninja had to acquire the techniques of what we call "parkour" today. There were times when a ninja needed to hang onto a beam in a living room of a castle using his fingers for many hours. Given such tasks that a ninja undertook, strong fingers were necessary. Disguises When downtown, ninjas would be disguised as a tradesmen, artisans, or a priests, in a farmland they would be farmera, in a castle they would be servants or a bureaucrats. If disguised, they could listen to discussions from people directly linked to the enemy and others who knew them. The disguise techniques of ninjas were classified into 7 patterns: # Zen priest (禅僧) # Monk (虚無僧 Komuso) # Mountain priest (山伏 Yamabushi) # Tradesman (商人) # Sorcerer (放下師) # Funny Bandsman (猿楽師 Sarugaku-Shi) # Usual guise, such as a farmer or a " Samurai (侍) " If a ninja was caught, his mission would have been devastated. For that reason, it was necessary for a ninja to obtain perfect disguises and even learn the dialect of the territory. A Ninja had to possess the manners and knowledge of the people he would have disguised as. To carry out missions, these skills were demanded and ninjas had to be educated in isolation from the cradle. Training Sight It can be said that sight was the lifeline for a ninja because they judged most information with their eyes. In a crisis when raiding his enemies, they needed to read the moves of their opponents to escape. Ninjas had a surprising level of vision. There are basically two types of vision. One is "static vision" which is grasping something at a standstill. The other is "dynamic vision" which is catching something moving. Certainly, a ninja trained in both of them. In addition to that, ninjas could see something well even in darkness. Ninjas lived deep in the mountains. Thanks to the environment, their vision advanced naturally. They were surrounded by green lush trees that were good their eyes making it possible for the ninja to be able to see far. It goes without saying that there were no streetlights on mountains meaning it was quite natural that a ninja could get good sight. Ninjas also disciplined themselves and trained for this too. They would light an oil lampstand with Japanese paper set in front of it. The ninja would poke tiny holes on the paper. The training required ninjas to count the number of holes from afar. They would also repetitively go in and out of a pitch black closet into a bright room to train their eyes to see in the dark. Running and Jumping It is needless to say that ninjas needed superior strength because as they were spies. In the case of invading hostile places, high jumps were necessary for a ninja in the circumstances of escaping. First of all, ninjas would sow the seeds of early growth bamboo or hemp on the ground, ninjas would jump over them everyday as part of their training. Bamboo and hemp grow several centimeters in a day and eventually they grow to 3 or 4 meters high.The growing period takes about 3 or 4 months. In that time, ninjas acquire an amazing jumping ability. Nanba Walking Ninjas walked with stealthy steps to keep them from being noticed by their enemies. Ninjas used a style of walking called "nanba walking". Nanba walking is a movement that is the exact opposite of a march. When a ninja stepped forward with his right foot, he would swing his right hand, and similarly when he raised his left foot, he would swing his left hand. When a person has gotten used to this style of walking, they can walk without making a sound. Furthermore, it is said that people get less fatigue if they walk in this way. Some say that ninjas could calmly sprint 250km in a day this way. Interestingly enough, "Hikyaku (飛脚)", who are Japanese classical express postmen also adopted this style of walking. "Sixth Sense" The most crucial thing for a ninja was "feeling before knowing", the state of the situation and the human mind. In order to gain these abilities it is said that ninjas accepted mind-body practice laws which are very close to "Yoga". Ninjas practiced methods which Buddhist priests also practice. They performed Zen-meditation (禅) by sitting under a waterfall, for example. The spells which a ninja recited and the symbolic signs they drew with their fingers were familiar to Buddhists. More than anything, the most notable education for a ninja was strategy and tactics. Breathing Techniques Ninjas were often in circumstances in which they had to abstain from breathing like underwater or near fires. Accordingly, the breathing training was essential for a ninja. Ninjas could get a fatigue-free body by performing breathing techniques on a daily basis and such practice was also useful training for concentration. Ninja's House Groups of ninjas (忍者) colonized the deep mountains. Many ninjas had the social class of a farmer. These Ninjas' houses had to function as a farmhouse. The outward appearance of their house was quite similar to that of an ordinary farmhouse. They were located in the center of fields but above all, they had to be designed for espionage. Naturally, a ninja had a lot of enemies, thus, the possibility of his house being raided suddenly by his enemies was taken into account. Construction Almost all of the Ninja houses were filled with various tricks and traps. In times of peace, a ninja may have worked as a farmer and in his farmhouse he hid secret documents, weapons and gunpowder. In this way, a ninja house acted as a stockroom. In addition to that, a ninja had to prepare for surprise attacks by his enemies so he would have set up tricks and traps in his house. The houses of the Iga Clan looked like farmhouses with a straw‐thatched roof but in fact it had three floors. A hidden intermediate floor and a hidden second floor were part of the construction. Hidden Staircase On the ceiling, there was a trapdoor which led to the concealed second floor. Furthermore, on the ceiling of the second floor, a trapdoor was set up so the ninja could use a collapsible ladder to get to the trapdoor and reach the concealed mezzanine. Then, he could take the ladder with him to the mezzanine. Next, he would shut the door and open the trapdoor on the ceiling of the second floor and crawled up onto the second floor. Then he could arrive at the second floor and hide. Hidden Passages There were several secret passages which lead to a well in a garden. When a ninja was attacked he could use the secret passages to escape to the garden. A ninja could enter the secrets passages by opening secret doors. There were doors everywhere in the house and the doors were made so skillfully that people couldn’t distinguish the doors from the walls, ceiling and floors. Hidden Storeroom A ninja needed a place to hide top secret documents, weapons, and gunpowder in places that no one could access but him. These storerooms were under the floor. In the recess of a wall in a Japanese style house had wooden boards spread. Ninjas took advantage of this construction. Some wooden boards on the floor have a mechanism, when the corner was pushed down, the opposite side rose and there were some openings under the floor that were used as caches. The floors were so well designed that it was impossible to think that there were any precious secrets hidden under there. They hid in plain sight. Ten Ideals of a Ninja # To maintain a strong body, with loyalty, bravery, stratagem, skills, and belief. # To be gentle and faithful with less desire, to value academies, to remember obligations. # To be eloquent, to read domestic and foreign books, to be wise enough not to be cheated by anyone. # To know providence, to master the teachings of Buddhism and Confucianism, and to realize one's destiny. # To respect ancient, domestic and foreign ethos, to wear a heroic temper. # To be called a good man usually without arguing with anyone. # To have a tidy family and relatives, never to betray anyone and abuse ninjutsu. # To travel around all countries, and to know the customs and manners of each land well. # To have a talent for literature, to excel in writing and to possess a talent for and keen understanding of military affairs. # To acquire artistic accomplishments like singing and dancing, traditional Japanese music, making impressions of others, and to utilize them when necessary. Clans As long as there were a variety of ninja clans, ninja organizations would not be uniform. There were two types of setups in the ninja organizations. One was fixed by a strict class system. The other was a society in which you can't be born into a higher status than someone else and everyone has the same rights. A good example of the former was Iga (伊賀), and the typical later organization was represented by Koka (甲賀). Ninja clans supplied shinobi as espionage personnel to their masters, and in return the masters gave them protection from being invaded by other powerful clans. A ninja had a strong sense of duty and accepted any kind of order from his organization. If he disobeyed, he would be punished or banished from his village. In the ninja clans, the rules of each community were strictly enforced. If individual ninjas misused ninjutsu for self-interest, the community could not last any more. A ninja often encountered precious treasures when invading private property. He couldn’t pocket them as this would leave a trace of his presence behind. Secondly, he had to keep many secrets to himself. Thirdly, a ninja needed to swallow his pride, for example, when he had to disguise himself a beggar. In this case, he had to restrain his pride and perform the job given to him. No one could ever know who he really was. The society of ninja clans was stern for each ninja. Iga was particularly strict tying individual ninjas up with strict rules and hierarchical relationships. If one searched for a similar society to Iga in world history, it would have to be the likes of the Spartans in ancient Greece. In societies such as these, the people lived quite rigid lives and their value was in the contribution they made to the group as a whole, children were given a rigid education that shaped them into useful citizens. Village Layout In both Iga (伊賀) and Koka (甲賀), the layout of the land consisted of several small castles surrounded by a vast array of fields that ran all the way to mountainous zones. In the center of fields, a ninja's house would stand. The function of castles in Iga and Koka in the Warring States period was in contrast to the Edo-period. In the Edo-period, one castle stood in one domain. A large city was built around the castle and outside of the city, fields spread and of course, lords of the domain lived in the castle. In short, the castle was the center of the domain both in terms of the function and as a symbol. On the other hand, in the land of ninjas, castles were no more than bases for protection. That is the reason why there were multiple castles in one land. It meant that ninja masters did not concentrate activities to one central point. Based on this strategy, it is possible to scatter the fighting and damage in wars. Under such a structure, castles can be forfeited in war as they never hold all people or power, so long as all the castles are not taken then the fight can still go on. Marriage Being a ninja ran in the family. In the Warring States period, people usually didn’t have the freedom to choose whom they married nor the jobs they had and the ninja were no exception. Ninjas married women selected by their mentors and their sons had to live a life of a ninja. In the case of a ninja couple that couldn't bring children, they adopted boys. They had to keep the line of the ninjas going. It was important to get married because people were less likely to suspect them of being ninja. The appearance of a family unit did not go hand in hand with the image that people would have had of ninjas. The life of a ninja and a ninja’s family demanded sacrifice and commitment to their community. Income In the Warring States period in which ninjas flourished most, a monetary economy had not been established in Japanese society, yet. Even in the Edo-period, the economy system depended upon two features that were money and rice. It is thought that in the Warring States period, the compensation for ninjas was the supply of goods and honor as a respectable ninja. In those days, deep in the mountains especially where ninjas lived, people were self-sufficient. Even if ninjas could get a lot of cash, they did not have much opportunity to use it. In 1582, Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康) was hired Iga ninjas organized by Hattori Hanzo (服部 半蔵), to pass Iga, which was the site of a furious battle. After Ieyasu came back to his home castle, he paid 1000 kans to the group of 200 Iga-ninjas to accommodate them. 1,000 Kans is the equivalent to about 1 million dollars today. Each ninja got paid about 5000 dollars. As ninjas lived so frugally, such a small amount of money could cover all living expenses. Ninjas living in the Edo-period got worse treatment than the ones before them. In the Edo-period, ninjas were regarded as lower samurais. Back then, their annual salary was about $3,000 dollars a month. When they completed a major mission, they could get a lot more. The more peaceful the society became, the less ninjas were needed. Almost all ninjas lived their lives frugally with their families. Five Types of Ninja Inko no kan: Local Spies These spies act as informants. They are information gatherers, spies, and masters of deception. They would be fluent in the local dialects. Nairyo no kan: Inward Spies These spies would be planted in the enemies' inner circle. They would be trained and conditions years beforehand as to not betray their original masters. Hantoku no kan: Converted Spies These spies would be enemy spies that have been forced or convinced to work for our side or simply fed false information. This technique is called kaerinin ''or ''sorinin. According to the Shoninki ninja manual, if a person from the lower class speaks with more reason or intelligence that befits their status, they should be suspected of being enemy spies. Shicho no kan: Doomed Spies These spies are sent out on suicide missions, with or without their knowledge. Tensei no kan: Persisting Spies These spies are highly skilled in espionage and spying by infiltrating enemy lines.